Shawn Stevenson:  Welcome to The Model Health Show. This is fitness and nutrition expert, Shawn Stevenson, and I'm so grateful for you tuning in with me today.

Listen, this format, this medium of podcasting is just skyrocketing, and for good reason. You know, it's one of those mediums that you can be educated, and entertained, and inspired while you're still doing other things.

Whether you're out walking your dog, whether you are on the road headed into your job, whether you're at the gym, whatever you're doing, you don't have to stop your life to tune in and to be inspired.

And I just love it. I love this format so much, and I actually really get it now why podcasts are so huge, specifically in the state of California.

I just left L.A. We already know, okay? But I came here to San Diego, which is where we're at right now, my home away from home studio in San Diego.

And the map GPS thingy, and this is - obviously I don't know much about it because I call it a thingy - said seventeen minutes to get to the studio.

I'm like, "Cool. Great." Alright? It took an hour. I didn't even know San Diego had this kind of disrespect for traffic.

And I just knew that it was, "Oh, it must be an accident. Because it's one lane, must be an accident.

I get up to where all the drama really was, it was just the most aggressively nasty stoplight I've ever seen.

It lets like two cars through on this huge main street, and then everybody else is just kind of trying to sneak through.

But through that time, got to listen to some audio, got audio books, podcasts, all that good stuff, and it was- it is what it is.

But here's the thing that I want to communicate. Not only do we have an amazing guest on the show today, but we also have these amazing experiences that go along with our lives.

And before we get to her, one of the things that I experienced through my little adventure this morning is increased stress.

Not many things can stress you out more than traffic can, and dealing with stress is one of those things that we don't really think about what's going on inside of our bodies and all the hormones that are involved.

You know, when you start to feel stressed, there's an increase in things like norepinephrine, and cortisol, and also your body's going to be utilizing certain nutrients.

And specifically, the biggest one that's involved in that is magnesium. And I've talked about this many times before, but I really, really want you to understand today how important this is.

Because magnesium is responsible for over 325 biochemical processes. That means when you're deficient in it, there's over 325 things your body can't do or can't do efficiently because we're lacking in this mineral. Number one mineral deficiency in our world today.

And I definitely had my magnesium levels zapped, and here's just a couple of things that I wanted to share with you regarding magnesium.

So a recent study came out, and this is just affirming some of the things we already know about magnesium.

But it found that magnesium is, number one, involved in energy creation. So this is involved in converting your food into energy. Magnesium is required to do that process. Kind of important.

So it's not just calories from food, but how does this food get converted into energy?

Also maintaining our genes. Literally gene maintenance. So this helps to create and repair DNA and RNA. Magnesium is involved in that process.

Also, magnesium is involved in muscle movement. That's kind of important as well. So also the relaxation of your muscles, and also nervous system regulation.

And this is what I'm talking about involved in the stress component. So it's your endocrine system and also your nervous system.

So you've got to make sure you're taking care of your magnesium levels. Food first, eating plenty of magnesium rich foods. Anything green is going to be a great source of magnesium.

Supplementation is great. There are some great supplements, but you can only take so much because of something called bowel tolerance.

If you take even a little bit too much, you will get diarrhea. Alright? So just be mindful of that.

So for me, I love topical applications of magnesium, and I've been using this particular topical magnesium for probably about six years now.

Literally travel with it, keep it by my nightstand, I love it so very much, and it's 99% absorbable. Over 99% absorbable.

Supercritical extract of magnesium, and your body can only absorb as much as it can use, which is really great.

And it's great for relaxation, and it's something I tend to do right before bed. It's Ease Magnesium, is what I'm talking about.

So head over there, check it out. It's www.EaseMagnesium.com/model. You get 15% off. Alright? Exclusive with The Model Health Show listeners. Alright?

www.EaseMagnesium.com/model for 15% off this incredible magnesium product. And again, it's involved in so very much, so definitely check it out. And on that note, let's get to the Apple Podcasts review of the week.

Apple Podcasts:  Another five-star review titled, 'Valuable Content, Interesting, and Entertaining,' by AspiringAmateur.

Shawn brings information and practical steps to every episode. You will be smarter, stronger, happier, and a more complete person if you receive what Shawn and the guests share and apply it.

Thank you, Shawn, for putting the work in to bring truth that changes people's lives. Been listening for a while, and so grateful for the show.'

Shawn Stevenson:  Thank you so much for leaving me that review over on Apple Podcasts. I appreciate it so very much. And if you've yet to do so, please pop over to Apple Podcasts and leave a review for the show. Alright? It means the world to me. And on that note, let's get to our special guest and our topic of the day.

Our guest today is one of my favorite people in the world, and she's a best-selling author, she is a true leader in the fitness space, but also in the personal development space is something that she's really, really focusing on because as you guys know, this is where the real change happens.

Alright? We can manage, and try to count calories, and all that stuff, and it does play a part, but what really matters is that internal shift.

And I've seen this firsthand, just being able to have her in my life, and the transformation she's taken, and also the impact that she's having on so many lives.

And she has millions upon millions of social media followers, and she will tell you that the story is so much bigger than that.

And her last book was an absolute smash. It's a book that I literally give to so many people, even family members, because it's just such a great template, 'The Seven Day Jumpstart.'

But she's back with a brand new book, and I have it right here, 'Aging in Reverse,' and my guest today is my friend, Natalie Jill. What's up, Natalie?

fem: What's up? I love that introduction. I need to have you walk around with me everywhere introducing me, because I love it.

Shawn Stevenson:  I'd be happy to do that. You know I'd do that for you.

Natalie Jill:  Thank you.

Shawn Stevenson:  So thanks for coming to see me. I'm glad we can make this happen.

Natalie Jill:  Thanks for having me.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah, it's my pleasure.

Natalie Jill:  I'm excited to chat.

Shawn Stevenson:  So I just dove into the book on our train ride. First of all, trains. Alright? I just- I felt like Harry Potter on the train. Have you taken the train?

Natalie Jill:  From L.A. to San Diego? Absolutely.

Shawn Stevenson:  Of course you have.

Natalie Jill:  It's cool. I like it.

Shawn Stevenson:  It was fun. It was fun taking the boys and seeing the view. But I just dove into your book, and I think it's a game changer. Absolute game changer.

And in it, you share a story that- so first of all, if you happened to miss Natalie's first appearance on the show, we'll put that in the show notes. Classic.

But you'd shared your kind of origin story in that episode, but now it's something different. Some changes have taken place for you.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  And I remember you even texting me a while back when you were dealing with this issue with your back.

Natalie Jill:  Yeah.

Shawn Stevenson:  So let's talk a little bit about that.

Natalie Jill:  So a lot of things that brought me to writing this book, but let me back up a minute.

So I didn't even get into the fitness nutrition health space until my late thirties, and I'm forty-seven now.

And what was coming up for me was this feeling of- I hate to use the word 'fake,' but I'm going to use the word 'fake' because it started to feel, as I was aging, that there was a lot of false assumed truths, is what I call it, around aging and what you're supposed to look like.

And then you would look on social media or anywhere and all you'd see is youth, and these super photoshopped pictures, or this like way that you're supposed to be fit.

And I felt like there was this gap with what was really happening with women in their forties and fifties and what we see on social media.

I would see two extremes. Either this like extreme- like just youth, you have to fight and be this, or this almost throwing away aging, and all of that.

So I was already struggling with that in my mind on like how do I want to jump into this and educate? Or what do I want to do with that?

I was already having that battle in my head, and then I was also dealing with a lot of pain in my lower back.

And so I was having this fake feeling because here I was this fitness expert who talked about how to get around back pain, and all of these things, and my back was now getting worse, and I didn't understand what was going on.

So I had my own struggle with, 'Well maybe it's age, maybe that is true. You know, maybe I was able to manage this in my late thirties and early forties, and now that I'm getting older there's a bigger problem.'

So I was fighting this in my head, but sometimes what we resist keeps persisting, you know? So it was like I had this struggle, but I wasn't really talking about it.

And then what happened was about a year and a half ago, I was filming in Miami, and I was doing some workouts that were not what I teach.

It was the extreme level, and I was there with a lot of younger people. I was the older one, and I was going to fight, and keep up, and go.

And despite my back hurting, hurting, hurting more than it ever had, I just kept going.

And it got to the point where I knew something was wrong, and my ego was taking over. Like, 'But I'm on set, but they're paying me, but I need to show up, I need to be here, I can keep up with people.'

And I kept going, and I kept forcing it, and what happened next was crazy. So I went to bed that night and I woke up the next day, and my right leg wasn't working.

Like my back had stopped hurting, but my right leg wasn't working. And I don't know if you've ever heard of foot drop or if listeners- that's what I had.

So basically I didn't know at the time what had happened in my back, but my right leg had stopped working, and I was dragging my foot, and it was completely tingly feeling, and I knew something was really wrong.

And I'm in Miami, and instead of being smart and going into the E.R. I got myself home thinking, "I'll just go to the chiropractor."

Got myself on an airplane, came home dragging my foot, go to the chiropractor, he does his thing, nothing's helping.

My husband says, "I think this is a bigger deal than a chiropractor. We need to look at what's going on here."

I texted my friend who's an orthopedic surgeon, and he's like, "You need an MRI right now. We're not waiting. Like right now you need an MRI."

What had happened was I had a huge ruptured disc between L5 and S1. A huge rupture.

And not only had it ruptured, it had wrapped around my spinal cord, and it was cutting off my nerve down my right leg, and he said if I don't have surgery immediately, I could lose permanent use of my right leg.

And when they said I could lose my bowels and bladder, I was like, "That's it. No time to look at any other options."

And he referred me to another surgeon, I ended up in emergency surgery, had laser endoscopic spine surgery.

They completely removed that disc, so I have no disc between L5 and S1. I have the degenerative disc disease there.

But when that happened to me, I had so many thoughts going through my head. Like and that's where that fakeness came up.

Because here I am struggling with a massive health issue, and all I could think about at the moment was, 'But how am I going to tie this into my business? Like how am I going to explain this?'

That's what was going on through my head, and I thought, 'This is not a place I want to be. Like this is not this conversation I want to be having.'

So I went online publicly and I shared exactly what was happening, what was going on, and people really appreciated it.

And once again, it reminded me what I had forgotten, that authenticity is what people want.

Like they want the realness, they want what's actually happening in your life, what's really going on. And with that, then you can take them on a journey of how you're finding the answers.

So that's what happened to me, and it was a big wake up call. It was a big wake up call, and I started battling my own false assumed truths with doctors telling me, "You're not going to be able to work out the same, you're not going to be able to do this."

I started battling what my audience battles now.

Shawn Stevenson:  Right.

Natalie Jill:  That was the start of this.

Shawn Stevenson:  Oh my gosh, and it's just that reminder, you know? Because the thing is, once when things get really good, we can forget.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  And for a lot of us, even when we turn our health around, we kind of forget what it's like and what the majority of people are dealing with.

And especially with somebody like you, who's chosen to be a teacher or somebody that is inspiring and reaching a lot of people.

Like life is going to hand you these lessons in a sense, you know? And that's crazy. And by the way, so false assumed truths. So that's FAT. 

Natalie Jill:  Yeah. Yeah, so I always said I kill fat for a living, and I still do, like fat on your body.

But what I really moved into is that FAT stands for false assumed truths. Because that's- when I look at transformation and anyone I've helped with weight loss, with business, with any goal really, they had to stop believing certain things that they believed to be true. They're false assumed truths.

And until we do that, we get stuck, and usually when life isn't working with any goal that we have, it's because we have some belief set around it that's stopping us. It literally stops us from achieving a goal.

So I had a lot of that, and until I could see it in myself, it was hard to really help others break through that.

Shawn Stevenson:  And I want to dive all into that, but one of the things that you said in your book, which was just like- it just kind of hit me, is that your six pack abs gave you a false sense of security.

Natalie Jill:  Yeah.

Shawn Stevenson:  And so that's kind of one of those things that led to potentially- and it's just one of the things, because there are many things that led to you experiencing that.

Natalie Jill:  Totally. Yeah, so for example with that, so I really studied core and functional training, and I thought, 'Okay, I have a strong core. I shouldn't have back issues.'

And for years, I got around back issues having what I thought was a strong core. I learned, which a lot of people teach, to take my lower back out of the equation.

So let's strengthen your core, let's not use your lower back. Which your core actually contains your lower back, but I wasn't thinking that way.

I would think, 'Okay, always take your lower back out of the equation. Use your glutes, use everything but your lower back.'

But what I didn't understand, and I fully understand now, by completely avoiding a certain area of your body, you're going to make it worse. Like you might not feel it on a daily basis, but then when you do bend down or you do that extreme thing, you're going to really get hurt. And that is what happened to me.

So that was- by me looking and saying, 'Oh, I have a strong core. I'm just going to keep going with my core,' it was a false sense of security because I really did not have a strong lower back right there.

Shawn Stevenson:  Wow. Yeah, this sounds so familiar. As you know, like that's what got me into this space in the first place, was dealing with my own back problem.

Natalie Jill:  Yeah.

Shawn Stevenson:  And two herniated discs; L4, L5, S1. And one of the things that it took me years to do because I was so afraid to mess with my back, and I would basically do everything else, and then focus on just having a strong core.

And I continued to have little issues, but not related to my disc after my disc had retracted and healed, but like SI joint, just low back muscle spasms, that kind of thing.

Natalie Jill:  Hip flexors probably.

Shawn Stevenson:  Hip flexors. And it wasn't until I started to do the things like dead lifting, and just focusing on actually training my lower back.

Natalie Jill:  Yeah.

Shawn Stevenson:  You know, what a concept to really strengthen all those- and you talk about as well, these stabilizer muscles, and doing those small things that we take for granted because we're just trying to do all this big fancy stuff, because that's what you see on the Internet.

Natalie Jill:  Totally, and ego just starts taking over regardless, and anytime my ego takes over, I get checked. So that's- so I am grateful for this happening, I'm grateful for a lot of things that have happened to me now that I didn't view as positive when they were happening, but they all helped shape, and evolve, and let us be better leaders and teachers if we share what's happening.

Shawn Stevenson:  Exactly. And one of those things- and again, we talked about this on the first episode, but I want to touch on it a little bit here just in case folks happened to miss it.

And you got into this space going through something that is like- you know, it's kind of rampant in popularity now in dealing with Celiac.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  But then that's led to this movement of like gluten is terrible for everybody kind of thing. But you were at a place where- and you mentioned this, getting into this field in your late thirties, which is just nuts.

Like people- we have these stories like-

Natalie Jill:  Right, it's a false assumed truth. That's an example of it.

Shawn Stevenson:  It was FAT. It's FAT.

Natalie Jill:  Yeah.

Shawn Stevenson:  But for you, I believe it was like fifty or sixty pound weight gain you'd experienced.

Natalie Jill:  Yes. My gosh, I could keep you going all day with stories. But my original book, 'A Seven Day Jumpstart,' was formed from a hardship also.

And that was because I had been- I was in my late thirties, I had just had a baby, I was a newly single mom. I gained a lot of weight. The housing market had crashed, the stock market had crashed.

Everything was going wrong in the economy, and I was at my own personal rock bottom. And when I got real, just like with my back and started sharing what was happening.

And I didn't have an audience yet. I just was sharing with my 100 Facebook friends. People were interested. They wanted to know what I was doing.

And I dove into nutrition, and studying, and learning. And I could have had all those excuses also, like I'm Celiac, I don't have the money, I don't have the time. I had a million things I could have said.

And it wasn't until I was able to be in the mess, and share what was happening, and dive in and learn, and get messy, and get messier, and figure it out, that things started to shift.

And that's what my first book was really born from, was learning to unprocess your diet, and change things from the inside out, which also changed my life. And there's a theme.

So if you look at this book now or that book then, it all started with mindset. It really did. I just didn't know how much it started with mindset then as I do now.

Shawn Stevenson:  Oh my goodness, I really want people to get this, because you just said digging into the mess.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  And your mess becomes your message. And like because of- and I just want people to get this. The hard things, the difficult things you've gone through and that you're going through, is creating such an opportunity to take your life to another level.

Natalie Jill:  Yes, but if you resist it, if you just keep fighting it, it just gets worse until you hear the message louder. And I look at that now.

Anytime there's a breakdown, like your own personal breakdown, our ego wants to fight it. You know? We want to like go head to head with it, and say this isn't true, and fight it.

But it's jumping in and understanding and feeling the feels, and really being real with it, and exploring is where the solutions come from. And that does, like you said, becomes your message later, but you have to be willing to jump in and get messy with it and not fight it.

Shawn Stevenson:  Now this is just jumping in my mind right now, but I remember watching a talk from Wayne Dyer like ten years ago, and he called EGO, another acronym which is Edging God Out.

Natalie Jill:  Oh, wow.

Shawn Stevenson:  And it's just like, 'I've got this,' and really kind of feeling like- because ego always wants to be right. That's one of the big things.

Natalie Jill:  Right. And like take that example. Here my ego wanted to be right, I'm going to go work out with these twenty-year-olds and do these crazy intense workouts in Miami for nine hours because of my ego.

My ego showed me. Then I get injured. Like not because of the workouts, but because I didn't listen to myself and I was doing something, and so that checked me enough that it woke me up.

Shawn Stevenson:  And allowing- so again, Edging God Out, allowing life to kind of guide you and open things up. That's what's really trying to happen here, it's just that our ego gets so strong, and it will plant its foot down, drop the anchor.

It's like, 'No, this is how life is, and I'm in control.'

Natalie Jill:  Always.

Shawn Stevenson:  Wow, powerful. So in the book you also bring about this new concept, which is this transformation triangle.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  And I really love that. Can we talk about that?

Natalie Jill:  So with any transformation, especially with weight loss and fat loss and health, a lot of people will come to me because they want to lose the weight. That's what they say. They just want to diet.

They want, 'Give me the workout. Give me the diet.' And that's what they want, but then they get what they actually need from me, and that's what causes the transformation.

So the transformation triangle is if you want to picture like a tripod that has three legs, if you don't have all three legs, tripod's going to fall over. Right? Because you need three legs for a tripod.

That's what transformation triangle is. It's state, plate, and weight. So the top of the triangle would be change your state, which is your mindset, and I'm going to dive a little bit into that.

And then after you've changed your mindset, that has to happen first, then you can learn to plan your plate, which is second.

And then finally, the third is loving your weight. And loving your weight is not just the workouts that you're doing, but learning to literally love what your body is doing for you, having gratitude in it to make the change.

And this has not- this has been the same formula with every single transformation I have worked with over the last eight years.

I can go down the list of people that had lasting transformations. It was that order. They had to change their state first.

Now, when people hear change your state or change your mindset, they might go right to woo-woo, but let me explain. You can't make anything happen in your life until you decide it's happening. You have to decide until you declare it's happening, and it's how you have a vision for what's happening.

Those three things are your mindset. Those are your state. If you go into anything with the attitude, 'I'm just going to try, or nothing's worked for me before, or I've done everything and what do you have for me? And okay, I'm just going to follow this.'

That's not a change of mindset. That's resisting. But when you go into something with, 'I've decided this is happening, I'm declaring it, I will lose the weight, I will get healthy, and I can feel what that's going to feel like, I already can visualize what that's going to be,' that puts you in a whole different space.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah. Oh my goodness. And you just said something so true that it could fly over our heads, which is we cannot do anything unless we first decide.

Natalie Jill:  Yeah.

Shawn Stevenson:  And we're doing that all the time, but we're doing it- we're using our immense power for little things.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  You know, like I've got to decide to get up and go to the bathroom. I've got to decide to walk outside, or whatever it is that I'm doing. I've got to decide to put my shoes on.

It's a decision, and you can make the same decision about bigger things, but it requires a shift to take place.

Natalie Jill:  Yes. And what happens is we'll hear this whole- it's a big theme in personal development. You have to take massive action.

Like Tony Robbins will always say massive action. I get massive action works, like not challenging that. The problem is most people, massive action scares the heck out of them.

So they hear massive action and they're like- so then now they can't decide because they're like, 'Well then that means I've got to go work out five hours a day, and I've got to eat this, and I've got to do that.' And that's scary.

But you don't need massive action, you just need a small step forward each day in the right direction. A small step forward each day in the right direction adds up to massive action.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah. Oh my goodness. I love that so much. That's really my approach, and what that does is it just feeds into itself too, because just getting a little bit better each day, it just creates this momentum, like unstoppable momentum, and it becomes your life rather than- because what we tend to do is try to go 150% just right off the bat.

And for a lot of us, because your ego, because your mind is so used to the same thing, it's just too much. And your thermostat for your success in life, or whatever it is, it's just going to pull you back.

Natalie Jill:  Totally. So it's just- it's taking that decision and going, "Okay, I'm going to make these little steps for it."

And then the other thing that's really critical in that state is the vision, and I want to explain what that means.

Like if you were to get in a car right now, and you and I were both in the car and I were to say, "Okay, just drive." Like where do we end up?

Like it depends on traffic, it depends on the weather.

Shawn Stevenson:  You're going to say the T word?

Natalie Jill:  But it depends on so many variables. Like I don't know, where do you want to go? What do you feel like going to? Like how much time do we have? How much gas is in the car?

Like a lot of variables get in the way if we're just going to get in the car and go. Okay?

That's how most people live their life. They just get in the car and go. Like, "I think I want to be fit. I don't know how I'm getting there, I'm just going to go."

But however, if we get in the car and I'm like, "Okay Shawn, we're both getting in the car, I'll meet you in New York," and we're both clear that we're going to New York.

Now how do we get to New York? It doesn't matter. We're both going to get there. You might drive to the train station, I might drive to the airport, somebody else might go pull out a map and drive themselves, someone might hitchhike.

Whatever, it doesn't matter, we're going to get there because we're clear where we're going.

However, most of us operate through life in that first example. We're just trying things on. We haven't really fully decided.

We don't really know where we're going. We don't have the vision, and that's what sets people up for failure.

Shawn Stevenson:  And wow, that's so powerful, so true. Because even if you just have the, 'I'm just going to go,' you can accidentally find a place or end up on some results, maybe even something unsuspecting, but you're not going to get to that place that you really want to go because you're not getting clear on the vision.

Natalie Jill:  Yes, and most people stick in that 'maybe' and that 'trying' forever, and then they have this track record of disappointment, which becomes a false assumed truth.

"I've tried everything, nothing works for me." Or, "I'm different." It's something we start believing.

Can I also call it a self-imposed stop? Like you're literally creating a thought that's stopping you because of these false truths.

Shawn Stevenson:  So I want to talk more about these self-imposed stops, but before we do, I want to ask you a little bit more about the vision side.

Natalie Jill:  Yeah.

Shawn Stevenson:  Because in the book you talk about vision boards, and of course it could jump right to the woo-woo, like you said earlier, but there's something that you said that made it so unbelievably valuable, and like so insightful that I really got it myself.

This is something I've done as well, but it's the fact of the discovery process. When you're going through it and doing this process, you're discovering what you want and what you don't want.

Natalie Jill:  Yeah. So you could go on Google and pull out images to do a vision board, however I love the old fashion magazine thing.

Because when you get lost and daydream and just activity, it's amazing what you'll realize that you actually like or are drawn to.

So if you pull out a bunch of magazines and you just start scrolling through and you see where your eye goes to. Like what are you attracted to?

Are you attracted to ocean, golf courses, healthy? You know, what's drawing your eyes?

And pull that out, it starts to help you get clarity to what it is that you want.

Because when we operate just from our own heads all the time, like just from our own heads and social media, like people's highlight reels, it's really hard to get clear on what we actually want.

But when you just look at magazines, or you just go out in nature and just start thinking with what you're seeing out there, you can get more clear on what it actually is that you want that would make you happy.

For instance, every time I do a vision board, I noticed I kept gravitating towards the color blue, and I didn't really know what that's about.

But I do know now because I've researched it. Blue is actually a color that makes people happier. It reminds you of the ocean or of water.

And I kept getting drawn to blue, and I was wondering why I wasn't happy living in places not near water or not seeing water daily, and that told me something about something I wanted to create my life or create a vision around.

So when you pull out vision boards, and I've done this many times, it's amazing what you'll realize you actually want or what becomes important to you.

Maybe it's family, maybe it's pets, maybe it's a certain way you want your body to be or feel.

But by doing that, you can start to get into dream mode, which we don't do anymore. I mean, we really don't spend time daydreaming or visualizing anymore the way that the world is.

Shawn Stevenson:  Just to sit, and just daydream, and think? You know, every free second we get, we jump on our phones.

Natalie Jill:  It's so true.

Shawn Stevenson:  Unless our phone dies, and then in that case, you start to notice like- there's a meme. It's like the guy is seeing a butterfly, but he's like, "What kind of bird is this?"

Because he's been on social media and just so connected to technology.

Natalie Jill:  And we get such a dopamine hit on social media. Like every time you see the like or the comment, it's a dopamine hit.

So it gets addictive, like the notifications and all of that, so you never really get into your subconscious of what you actually want because you're so stuck on that forefront of what's actually happening and the 'gimme, gimme, gimme,' and the dopamine hits.

Shawn Stevenson:  And we did a great episode with Cal Newport, which I'll put in the show notes, in talking about this stuff, and the concept of deep work as well, which is the opposite of that.

Your brain is constantly looking for this novel stimuli instead of really being able to focus, and to dig in, and to listen to that inner voice.

You know? Because that's one of the things that we both want to get people to, is to be able to listen to their inner guidance system, and it's very difficult when it's constantly distracted.

Natalie Jill:  Right. So imagine- so the reason I call my book 'Aging in Reverse,' is imagine if we didn't have all that outside noise around aging.

Because when I say 'aging,' especially to women, what comes up for them is they don't want to be that, or they feel dated, or has been.

So people want to fight, fight, fight. Like, "I need to look twenty forever. I need to look thirty forever."

But that doesn't have to be that way, and I'm not saying go accept and age gracefully either. That's not what I'm saying.

But what I'm saying is it doesn't have to look a certain way. Aging can look like whatever you want it to look like.

It could be your powerful years, it could be the years that you get stronger, it could be the years where you learn more, where you become more authentic, where you have more fun.

It could be all of those things, but it starts with that shift of like, "Okay, what am I telling myself about this? What am I deciding? What do I want? And where am I Finding evidence to support things?"

Like if you're finding evidence all day long that, 'Hey, forties, fifties, sixties is bad,' and that's what you keep programming yourself, of course you're going to set yourself up for issues.

But when you look for the opposite and you validate that people can be healthy, can be strong, can be vibrant, can do these things, it starts to shift your perspective on that as well.

Shawn Stevenson:  So, so good, so powerful, and so real. And this is something I've been thinking a lot about as well recently, is that we are bombarded with messages of aging.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  You know, because of all the examples, and also even the way we've grown up and seeing the aging of our parents or grandparents.

And there are folks who they are needing assistance in their fifties and sixties, and maybe their arthritis is so bad they're in a wheelchair or a cane.

But then there's also these examples of people who are in their seventies and eighties who are running marathons, and competing in Spartan Races, and living their best life.

Natalie Jill:  So what are you going to decide to make your norm? Like that's the thing. I hate statistics. I hate when doctors say, "Well statistically, you have X% chance to live, or you have X% chance of this happening."

Like I hate that because you could be the 1%, you could be the 2%. Like get rid of that, and just go for like where's the evidence of the one that's overcome this?

You know with my leg, with that happening in my back and my leg, I instantly could have said, "I can't work out anymore. I'm not going- this is just what happens."

And you know what? No one would have challenged me. I could have enrolled the whole world on why my leg doesn't work, and I can't work out anymore, and I can't do this. I'm going to do a whole other career.

That could have easily be done, but that is not fully living and aging in reverse.

And I interviewed a woman on my podcast, Janine Shepherd, and her story really stuck with me because she was an Olympic athlete, she was training for the Olympics, she was hit by a truck.

Hit by a truck, training for the Olympics, imagine this. Totally paralyzed, airlifted to a hospital, told she would never walk again by multiple doctors told this.

Every reason to believe that. She refused to listen to it. She found evidence of others that could retrain their brain, and she is a documented walking paraplegic now. A walking paraplegic.

There's been movies about her, all because she decided and refused to let in the noise that that wasn't going to happen for her.

And when I heard that story, when I interviewed her, when I met her in person, it's like how can I stay caught up on my leg with that? Like really, how can I stay caught up on that?

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah. Oh my gosh. So again, just get this message. We have to tune in to different stories.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  You know, and not get caught up on the societal norms and conditions. Because the reality is for centuries prior to this, there was a whole different experience in aging.

You know, and people think like, "We live a lot longer now." That's taking- when we're talking about the average, we're taking into consideration a lot of people dying a lot younger due to not having access to healthcare, and clean processes, and this kind of thing, infection.

But we actually see, if we look at indigenous cultures, folks who are much older still out kickin’ it, dancing with the kids, being a contributing part of the society. And today, it's just a different story.

Natalie Jill:  And let me tell you- that's a perfect example too, of you look at years ago, somebody had to decide it was possible to live longer. Right? That had to happen.

I have a vision that 100 years from now, fifty and sixty is not going to be old. Like that will still be young. People will still be having kids then maybe. That'll still be your youth.

Because 100 years ago, it was very different, the life expectancy. 150, 200 years ago, a totally different story.

So you have to have that vision and that willingness to step out of what you've been told, or what you've believed, and look at there's another possibility.

And here's the thing. Right or wrong, you might not agree with me, but right or wrong, what does it hurt to believe that?

Like seriously, if you want to give in to excuses invalidating and saying, "It's not possible," and argue with me, great.

Does that make your life any better? Because we've just taken away any possibility.

If I say, "You know what? You're right. Your thyroid, your this, your metabolism; you're right, it sucks. You're right, your hormones are shot. You're right, you're just going to be overweight now. You're right, you're going to be in pain forever. You're right."

Like what does that do for you? What kind of life is that? That's a life without hope.

Like so to me, validating excuses serves no purpose. It literally serves no purpose. It makes you temporarily feel better in a moment. It does not do anything to help you live a bigger life.

And for me, I'm taking a stand for people to have a bigger life, because validating excuses is doing a disservice to people.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yes. Listen, one of the headlines- so you see this out on social media, but it's actually believing it. Forty is the new twenty. But also 10:00 PM is the new 1:00 AM.

Natalie Jill:  Oh yeah, I'm with you.

Shawn Stevenson:  I'm asleep.

Natalie Jill:  I'm asleep at 9:00. 

Shawn Stevenson:  Getting that human growth hormone boost. So what we were talking about before- and thank you for sharing this and talking more about the vision side.

Because it's so valuable, and taking the time to really have a clear vision, and that process of creating a vision board is just one of those times where you get to focus on and start to get more clear on what it is that you want.

Natalie Jill:  Totally.

Shawn Stevenson:  Giving every cell in your body some direction. And that's why it's such a great tool, because it's a visual tool that you can continue to see as well.

Natalie Jill:  Yes, and we don't use our senses enough. And if you don't believe that that works, if you were to close your eyes right now if you're not driving and you're listening to this, and you imagine biting a big juicy ripe lemon, what happens to your body?

Shawn Stevenson:  Get that little mouth watering.

Natalie Jill:  Okay, got it. So that's proof right there. Just that one thing, that a vision, a thought can change something on your body.

So if you're looking at a vision board, and you've got people in there that are healthy, fit, strong, and you can look at them and evoke those feelings, why wouldn't that start to help you take different actions?

Shawn Stevenson:  It only makes sense. It only makes sense. That's so powerful, and just every thought has a correlated chemistry that goes along with it.

And you know, I've talked about this several times, but there are parts of our brain that are literally seeking out and scanning our environment to reaffirm things that we believe about our environment and about our lives.

Reticular cortex, reticular activating system. And we've all had this experience. You know, you might get a new car or there's a car you like, and you start to see it more.

It's not that there's more these cars all of a sudden, it's just that your brain is now seeking out and looking for it.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  And same thing, you might get a new bag. Well first of all, you'd better not see anybody with the new bag that you got.

But you'll start to notice like, "Oh wait, all these people have Louie V. All these people have the Prada," or whatever it is.

You'll start to notice it more because it's something that's top of mind for you, and your brain is doing that all the time.

Natalie Jill:  And that's what happens with aging, too. You could say- you can look for all kinds of people that are your age or older that are falling apart, or you can find the ones that are living life, and enjoying it, and thriving.

And so that's all your choice and your decision.

Shawn Stevenson:  Absolutely. And this a perfect place to talk about these self-imposed stops. We're going to do that right after this quick break. So sit tight, we'll be right back.

Alright, we're back and we're talking with one of my favorite people on the planet, Natalie Jill, who has an incredible story herself getting into this field of health and fitness in her late thirties.

And these are one of those stories that we tend to carry that, "I'm too old, I'm too young, I'm not connected enough, I don't have this, I don't have that."

These are all stories that we put on ourselves, and I believe this goes in the category of these self-imposed stops.

Natalie Jill:  Yeah, so a self-imposed stop is anything that you've been telling yourself. We have like 30,000 thoughts a day. Did you know that?

Like in your head you have an average of like 30,000 thoughts that come up a day in your head that are literally just in your head.

Nobody's telling you this, they're in your head. But they're formed on a belief or a story that we made up about something for some reason.

And it could have been a story we made up years ago, it could be something we just heard, but we replay that in our brains over and over again.

Like, "I'm too old, I'm too fat, I'm not attractive, I'm not smart enough." It goes on and on and on and on. On and on and on.

And I call them self-imposed stops because you literally are self-imposing them and they stop you from achieving goals.

They stop you, and they're very real, and we carry- these thoughts carry a lot of weight on us.

So in order to shift those, the first step is to really get clear on what it is that we're telling ourselves.

Whether that's journaling it, but you have to really get clear with, "What am I telling myself all day long?"

And until you can recognize what it is that you're telling yourself, we can't begin to shift them.

So as soon as you start realizing them, one of the things I have clients do is write those things down. Like what are those self-imposed stops you've been telling yourself? Because we need to start reprogramming.

Shawn Stevenson:  So it's not just the positive things that we want to see with our vision, but kind of allowing ourselves, and expressing, getting out of our heads what are these self-imposed stops?

Natalie Jill:  Yes. For instance, a lot of times you'll see- this is so common, especially in fitness, and when I would train women. Oh my gosh.

You have a female that will say- I would say, "What do you want for your body?" Before I knew a lot about vision and what we were doing here.

"What do you want for your body?" And they'd say, "Well, I want to be the small waist, I want to be the nice curvy, I want to be a size four."

They would describe what they wanted visually. And then a woman would walk in that looked exactly like that, in her little skimpy stuff in the gym, looking all hot and like that.

And what did the women- the woman that told me they wanted that, what do you think they do when that woman walks in the gym?

Shawn Stevenson:  Is it hateration?

Natalie Jill:  Hateration is an understatement. It's like rolling their eyes, looking at them, "Ugh, bitch. Tramp. Slut." All kinds of names come up, right? 

That's what they do. They make all these- like okay, wait a minute, where did that come from? And that's what they gossip with their friends about.

I know you see this. Women at the gym, they're like all gossiping with their friends.

Okay, hello? That's a huge self-imposed stop. And then you're wondering why you're not getting fit. Like look what you've put on that.

You've associated someone that is fit and looks good with these negative things, and you've reinforces with other women. Like this is a problem. That's an example of a self-imposed stop.

That's an example, and it's a way of protecting your ego because you're not there, I get it, but until you undo that stuff, how are you ever going to achieve that?

So the right thing to do with that would be, "Okay, that's a natural feeling." You have it, recognize it, I hear you, I hear what you're trying to. I hear that you're like in my head telling me this.

But like I appreciate that woman's body, and what she's done, and maybe I'll even go compliment her and ask her how she got there. I mean, wouldn't that be a lot more productive?

Shawn Stevenson:  And you're telling your brain that that's what I want. You know? And what you appreciate really does appreciate.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  It's a whole different way of being.

Natalie Jill:  But we want to go to the hater side. Like they cheated, they're fake, they're this, they're that. Like, that's what we do.

So instead of that, like it's you have to recognize that. And I'm not- everyone does it. Everyone has judgment. It's just human nature, we have judgment.

But what are you doing with those stories? Are you then validating them? Are you reinforcing them? Are you going to shift those thoughts and look at something different?

Shawn Stevenson:  That's the thing is that awareness, and starting to become aware when you're doing those things, and changing that conversation.

Because like you said, it's super easy. Especially today where you're constantly seeing everybody's highlights.

Natalie Jill:  Right.

Shawn Stevenson:  But first of all, we've got to recognize it's the highlights. You know? It's 99% of it is not the average living state of the person, and not comparing ourselves with where we are to whatever chapter they're in in their lives as well.

Natalie Jill:  Yes. And I used to fight with people. I would get a comment, let's say, and say "Oh, well wait until you have kids, or wait until you're older." And I would want to fight them.

I'm like, "Well I am older and I have a kid." You know, I'd want to go there.

But I don't do that now because I look at them now as they don't see this. They don't even know that they're doing that.

So I look at them more with compassion now. And what I might point out to them is that's true if they believe it, but that's really it.

There's no reason to win, or be right, or fight. It's coming at that with compassion because they don't know what they don't know yet, and that's all they've believed and been told.

Shawn Stevenson:  I love this so much, and this why I love the book, because you're working on the stuff that really matters. Because we hang on so tightly to our stories of limitation.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  Because it's a sense of certainty in our lives. You know? Things have been this way, but they'll continue to be this way. You know?

Your past will equal your future if that's where you decide to live. And helping people to become more aware and to shift from these limiting perspectives that we have, these self-imposed stop, is huge in giving us freedom.

Natalie Jill:  So what's interesting, because I do talk about food in here, and I talk about planning your plate.

And what's funny is a lot of times somebody will say, "Well, I'm getting older so I'm gaining weight." And what they're failing to see is how they ate and acted maybe younger maybe wasn't the best way either. It's just that they were younger so it made it a little bit easier.

So it's not that it's not possible, it's just that now we really do get to look at what is health, and what is fueling us with good nutrients versus just helping us cope with feelings.

So food and nutrients take on a whole new meaning because if you practice conscious eating, and you're really eating with foods that are going to help keep you vibrant, and young, and energetic, and focused, it's just a win-win situation. It's the perfect winning formula.

Shawn Stevenson:  Absolutely. Well, I can't have you here and not talk a little bit about the plan your plate.

Because you've got an interesting take on fasting, which we know- we've talked about this on the show before, many different benefits, but there's different flavors of it for us to take on for ourselves.

Natalie Jill:  Totally. So the premise of what I teach with eating is an unprocessed natural food diet. That's step one.

So like eating real natural foods, and what I tell people is to focus on adding in more of the good, which makes less room for the bad.

So instead of going extreme with, "I can't have all these things," look at like, "Can I add in more of the good?"

So unprocessed natural real food is my first rule. My second role is about looking at foods that cause inflammation because we want to lessen that, especially as we age, right?

So I want to set my body, I want to set your body up to win. So by feeding you fast food and processed junk, I'm not setting you up to win, because we're going to- if you do have an injury or you have inflammation, it's just going to get worse.

So why not eat foods that are going to fight against that? So I take inflammation really seriously and I take foods that are known to cause inflammation out of the plan.

And then the fasting thing, I'm not against fasting. I'm not for or against it, but here's what I do know.

When you give your body a break from digestion, and you give your body a break from secreting insulin, you are going to lose fat, and have better focus, and more energy.

And when we're constantly eating and constantly making our bodies work to deal with that, we are going to be in a state of foggy brain, and fat storage, and all of that.

So the reason I talk about what I call modified fasting versus like full on fasting or intermittent fasting, is I want things that can be a lifestyle for people.

So traditional intermittent fasting, you eat all your food in four to six hours really, and that's just not even really doable for a lot of people.

I mean if it is, great, but that's very hard to do. So what I teach is giving your body a break.

So let's say you eat your last meal at 6:00, you wouldn't eat until 6:00 again the next day, which is just a twelve-hour overnight thing, which at least gives your body a break.

And then also giving your time- longer space between meals. So rather than having six to eight meals a day, we have two or three meals a day.

Shawn Stevenson:  And all of these are tools, and that's the thing about it as well, is that you're providing the most important foundational piece, which is real food adding in more good, so it kind of just crowds out the negative stuff.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  I'm a huge fan of that approach because that's what I use, because as human nature, just we have a tendency to not want people telling us what we can and can't have.

Natalie Jill:  Totally.

Shawn Stevenson:  And so we tend to rebel against it. As soon as you know you can't have pasta, and everything else is okay but I'm taking pasta away, and not knowing who I am, my story, my connection to pasta. You know, like lasagna.

And like I've read all the Garfield books when I was growing up. It was his favorite food, so it's my favorite food. And now I can't have lasagna?

Natalie Jill:  Totally.

Shawn Stevenson:  You can do it for a little while, but if you have that emotional connection and you're not having something that- strategically just adding stuff in where I don't really even notice I'm not eating as much lasagna.

I'm going to flip out one day. I'm just going to be driving, and I'm going to see an Olive Garden, and I'm going to hit hard Barbados left into the Olive Garden.

Barbados left is my friend Carl, who he was in the far right lane and he made a left. Never mind, long story.

But anyways, you hit that Barbados left into the Olive Garden, and you just go ham on lasagna.

Natalie Jill:  That's exactly what would happen. So I have a ten-day plan in here, but it's designed not to take foods out of your life forever.

But what happens is you feel so good eating without the foods that cause inflammation and eating the right nutrients, that when you do have the lasagna and you realize how you feel, you make your own decision now.

Because it's not me telling you not to do it, you're going to start to see it different.

So the book, I really focus on grain-free and dairy-free. Not because I'm going to tell you never to have dairy or grains again, but I want you to see how you feel when you take them out of your diet and you eat an unprocessed healthy food diet.

I'm not going to argue with you on why you love lentils, or you love grains, or you love the dairy. Like that's great.

I just want you to try for ten days in this with the mindset exercises and with everything else, working in the transformation triangle, and if you don't like how you feel, then go back to it, or go and try your other food after and then see what difference it makes.

But I'll tell you the pain, the inflammation, the fat, the mindset; all of that gets so much easier when you do eat this way.

Shawn Stevenson:  I love that because that's the thing. It's just more intelligence in our cells. You know? So it makes it easier to do all of those positive things that we want to do.

Natalie Jill:  If you think of it like- I mean, and this is extreme. But if I were to ask you to go focus on a project or record a podcast after you drank a bottle of alcohol, could you do it?

Shawn Stevenson:  It probably wouldn't be my best self.

Natalie Jill:  But you could do it.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah.

Natalie Jill:  Okay, so that's an extreme example, but food really does the same thing to us. Like you can operate one way eating a certain way, or you can operate a different way eating a different way.

So until you clean it up and actually try and get rid of the stuff that could be contributing to fog and all of that, you don't know.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah. I'm just thinking people like, "I want to see the tipsy Shawn do a show." I'd probably laugh way too much.

Natalie Jill:  They may like you better, I don't know.

Shawn Stevenson:  Oh my gosh, that's so funny. But that's the truth. You know? We can do things, but how about we stack conditions in our favor to make it more graceful and with ease.

Natalie Jill:  Yes. So it's not that I never have dairy, it's not that I never have certain foods, I just know I operate very different when I eat the way that I outline here.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah. I want to talk about- so there's another aspect to your book. So we've got this absolutely essential mindset piece, which is that's everything.

And the way that you go about it, and teaching people, first of all you've had immense success outside of the book, and now packaging it up here.

And the plan your plate, so you have the nutrition side, but there's also the exercise component as well.

And I think that just looking at it, it's different than what you would typically see. Why is that?

Natalie Jill:  So what I've put in here is more restorative. So I want to get you moving, and functional, and out of pain.

And whether you are extremely fit and feel like you have it altogether now, or you are in pain, these exercises are going to help you.

I wish I had done these exercises before I needed to do them. It's just about rebalancing and strengthening areas, things that you could do daily that are going to help give you that confidence to do whatever it is that you want to do, whether that's extreme or not extreme.

But you know, so many times people come to me and they're having trouble even sitting, or standing, or walking, and I want to help with that.

But then also the people that are beating themselves up in the gym and working out really hard, adding these in are going to help prevent the injury or the issues that could happen.

Shawn Stevenson:  I love it, and I think there's a lot of us that can use that in our lives. Because I know for myself included, it's much more mental work for me to do the mobility stuff.

Natalie Jill:  Yes.

Shawn Stevenson:  And I made it a mission this year, and I've been successful. I think maybe I missed one day thus far of like having a mobility- just that's all I'm doing.

You know, take a knee, just five minutes, and just doing some mobility work because I just want to go do the big thing.

I want to go do the hundred pull-ups, I want to go do the deadlift 400 pounds, or whatever it is, I just want to do that stuff.

Natalie Jill:  And I do, too. And what I will tell you is people will see me doing some extreme stuff even now that I've retrained myself and I can do some more of the extreme stuff again.

But people's brains want to go to, "Well, because you can do these things, that's why this other stuff works." And I want them to know that it's the other way around.

I couldn't do those extreme things if I didn't apply these principles. It's the chicken or the egg story.

The mindset, these basic exercises, the way that I eat has to come first, and that's what allows me to be stronger to do the other things.

Shawn Stevenson:  And also please understand, no matter where you are, you are such a great example that you straight up- you know, the whole back surgery. I mean, that's- and here you are, like you just said, doing these incredible things.

So I follow you on social media and I could see, and it's because of implementing these things. And so no matter where you are, you can get from there and you can make some significant progress.

Natalie Jill:  You can always. And what I want people to really know is that you can be- and I'm not- this is not my saying. I'm sure you've had many guests that have said something similar.

But you can be an entirely different person a year from now by changing your thoughts and your actions. You have different thoughts and you take different actions, you can change your entire being.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah, we've got to talk about this. So we have the transformation triangle, love your weight.

Natalie Jill:  Yes. Okay, so many times, especially women, they come with, "I hate this about me." They're always saying what they hate about their body.

"I hate my arms, I hate my butt, I hate my abs, I hate this, I hate that."

We're so focused on what we hate and want to change that we're never going to get better, because just like that Law of Attraction, you're going to keep focusing on what you don't like, and that's all you're going to see.

So what I challenge women to do is to focus on what actually works in your life, what's working on your body, having the gratitude, even if it's simple. "Hey, I have ten fingers and ten toes."

Whatever it is, having that gratitude first and then you start to carve and create the beautiful person that you can be from focusing on what the good things are that you have.

So great, you have toned arms, that's your thing. Let's focus on getting those arms even better now, and let's appreciate those before we work on other things.

Shawn Stevenson:  And that's the thing, is that we cannot- and it just doesn't make logical sense that we hate ourselves healthy. "I'm going to hate myself into being healthy."

Natalie Jill:  Yes. Now here's the thing. Like have compassion for yourself too, because we all do it. I do it, too.

I had a photoshoot yesterday and I was like, "I hate my arms." Like that's what plays in my head. I hate my arms.

Like so I catch myself doing it as a human thing. The key is not that we're going to evolve and be this person that never hates anything or- it's just learning to catch those thoughts and re-shift and refocus on it.

So like, 'Okay great, so I don't like my arms, but I happen to have great abs.' Whatever, but focusing on something else that's there. Or that I have arms.

My gosh, like I'm complaining about my arms, but I have arms. There's people that don't have arms. A lot of people that don't have arms.

So appreciating what your body actually does for you, adding gratitude in, it may feel forced at first, it may feel cheesy, but literally telling yourself with 'I am' statements like, "I am strong, I am powerful, I am toned, I am-" Whatever you tell yourself, you're going to start to believe.

Shawn Stevenson:  I love that. Thank you for that. Because I think that's another thing, especially when somebody sees somebody like you who's just a major part in this field. And to hear that, "Yesterday at a photoshoot, and I was thinking this."

Natalie Jill:  Yeah.

Shawn Stevenson:  And it's just a continuous process, and nobody is going to be like Dalai Lama status- and even- I don't know what he's thinking. You know? He might be like, "Man, this robe like really hits my butt the wrong way."

Natalie Jill:  But what I notice is the danger is always- it comes back to ego again. That's my ego.

So your ego is when you're focusing on yourself, and inside, and whatever. But if you start focusing out and on what your body does for you, like and what it's doing for other people, and that will start to shift that.

So I would imagine the reason the Dalai Lama, or whoever else that feels so blah, is because they're not focusing on their inner thoughts. They're focusing on bigger pictures, bigger vision, other people, and that shifts it, too.

Shawn Stevenson:  Exactly. Because my body, my arms are allowing me to- has allowed me to hold my baby, and has allowed me to carry my groceries, and to write, or to play music, whatever it is. So to give gratitude.

And you said it. There are many people who don't have many of the things that we take for granted, and having that mental shift where we can start to hear the conversation going on in our head and not letting it control us, I think that that is the biggest piece and what you're really helping people to do.

Natalie Jill:  And being nice to yourself. Because like I said, there's 30,000 or so thoughts a day. So as those thoughts are coming up, noticing like, "Okay, there it is again."

Just recognizing it, and you'll see how those are overtaking what's happening, and why it's a reflection on our body.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah, absolutely. Oh my goodness. So this book obviously has been a big mission of yours, to kind of put this message out, and I know that you even changed your message recently, and wanting to really focus on this because you know that this is where the real results lie.

Natalie Jill:  Yes. So I focus my vision, and my focus is helping people age in reverse. And now you know what I mean by aging in reverse.

It's not like physically looking like you're twenty now. But aging in reverse so you're not assuming that aging has to be a certain way.

And then focusing on leveling up your life in general. So my podcast is called 'Leveling Up,' my book is 'Aging in Reverse.'

But I really am really passionate about helping people get empowered to notice that they can change their thoughts and their actions, and live a much bigger, better life.

Shawn Stevenson:  Awesome. This has been amazing, and I'm just a huge fan of you. I adore you. I think that you are amazing, and I think that this book is something really special, and it's a message that needs to be said on so many different levels.

And if you could, can you let everybody know where they can grab the book?

Natalie Jill:  Yeah.

Shawn Stevenson:  It's going to be coming out a little- if you're tuning in right now to this, a little bit before the date that it comes out. So share the release date, and where they could pick up the book.

Natalie Jill:  Yes, the release date is officially May 15th, and you can get it anywhere books are sold. Obviously Amazon, Barnes and Noble; any place that you can find books, you can get it.

And then if you want to get the bonuses that I'll have with it, just visit my website at www.NatalieJill.com.

Shawn Stevenson:  Perfect. And also, so your podcast. Which first of all, let's just talk about that, because this was something that I remember we were talking a couple of years ago. You were like, "I don't think I could see myself doing that."

Natalie Jill:  Yeah, my podcast is called 'Leveling Up: Creating Everything from Nothing,' and that's another example of when something's not working in my life. Like finding the lemonade in it.

So I was- that's a whole other story, but I was having a lot of challenges in my business, and I had gone through a lot of different failures, which I'm very public about that I was figuring out, and I decided that I needed to dive deep into how people had massive success after big failures.

So I started a podcast, not to become a top podcaster, but because I wanted the information. So I literally started- I thought, 'This is great, I'm going to interview fifty plus people on how they created massive success from nothing.'

And the podcast took off because they were real stories, and I love it, so I'm still going on that, and I absolutely love doing that.

Shawn Stevenson:  That makes me so happy. So happy.

Natalie Jill:  Thank you.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah, it's a great show, and I've been on there.

Natalie Jill:  You have been on there.

Shawn Stevenson:  That was a great episode.

Natalie Jill:  Great episode.

Shawn Stevenson:  I feel like I'm tooting my own horn.

Natalie Jill:  No, it was a great episode.

Shawn Stevenson:  It's different from anything else that you really hear.

Natalie Jill:  Yeah, because I'm digging into mindset, and I want to know how you created everything from nothing, so we talked about how you created the show.

Shawn Stevenson:  Yeah, so I think it's a great story. So also last thing, where can people connect with you online?

Natalie Jill:  Yep. www.NatalieJill.com or NatalieJillFit anywhere on social media.

Shawn Stevenson:  Awesome. Natalie, thank you for coming to see me.

Natalie Jill:  Thank you.

Shawn Stevenson:  And again, huge, huge props on this book. I think it's something special, and I think that this is just an absolute game changer.

So thank you again for taking the time, and putting your heart and soul into making this.

Natalie Jill:  Thank you, Shawn.

Shawn Stevenson:  It's my pleasure. Everybody, thank you so much for tuning into the show today. I hope you got a lot of value out of this episode.

And make sure to pick up 'Aging in Reverse.' This is- it's just a game changing book. You know?

It's really bringing together a lot of the different pieces, some of the things that we talk about here on The Model Health Show, and transforming our bodies is really a trickledown effect. You know?

It really starts with our minds and shifting how we see ourselves, and addressing this FAT, but it's a different kind of FAT. It's these false assumed truths.

We hold so tightly to these ideas and these stories that we have about ourselves that we make it essentially impossible to change them. Right?

We have this story that, "I can't have a different job," or "I can't find that special person," or "I can't heal my relationship," or "I can't lose weight and keep it off."

And once you really dig your heels in, which the ego wants to do, your ego wants to do, and say that this is my story and I'm sticking to it.

But it's subconscious, it's your unconscious. Because you're conscious mind could say, "You know what? I'm starting new on Monday. It's over. Alright? Old life is over. New year, new me, new week, new me," whatever it is.

And you have not done this inner work, we're going to have a tendency to habitually run back to that old pattern.

And so really working on our mindset and getting ourselves immersed in information like this.

Like what's in 'Aging in Reverse,' like what Natalie is putting out there, and like what you find here on The Model Health Show.

So I hope you got a lot of value out of this episode again, and if you did, share it out with your friends and family on social media, and tag me, and tag Natalie and let her know what you thought about the show.

I appreciate that so very much. And we've got some powerhouse episodes coming your way soon, so make sure to be ready. Take care, have an amazing day, and I'll talk with you soon. 

And for more after the show, make sure to head over to www.TheModelHealthShow.com. That's where you can find all of the show notes, you can find transcriptions, videos for each episode, and if you've got a comment you can leave me a comment there as well. 

And please make sure to head over to iTunes and leave us a rating to let everybody know that the show is awesome, and I appreciate that so much. 

And take care, I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help you transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.